Instead, Flora entered, a big grin on her face.
His mood immediately lifted at the sight of her. He got up from his chair and gave her a big hug. “It’s good to see you,” he said.
“Same here.” She squeezed him tight and let him go, then looked up at him. “Everything all right?”
“Oh yeah. Perfectly fine.”
She put one hand on her hip. “And I’m Halle Berry’s prettier twin.”
Seb chuckled and gestured to his chair. He always gave up his seat for her, starting back when he bought the paper from Buford. “Things are fair to middling, but they could be worse. What do I owe the pleasure of your visit?”
Flora sat down and folded her hands on the desk, her grin slipping into a slight frown. “Retirement isn’t what it’s cracked up to be.”
“You’ve been retired for what, a week?” He sat across from her. “Give it time.”
She paused, staring at his messy desk before looking at him again. “You need me, Seb.”
“Of course I do.”
“I want to come back.”
His gut clenched. He’d always been honest with her, and while it was embarrassing to him as a businessman, he admitted, “I’d love nothing more, but I can’t afford you. We both know that.”
Flora leaned toward him. “I thought I’d enjoy retirement. Having the time to travel with Carl, work in my garden, play cards with Mama. Things I put off when I was working. Turns out Carl prefers to fish, and I’m fine with that since he’s been catching some really good trout lately. He’s got a secret fishing hole he won’t tell anyone about.”
“Sounds like Carl.”
“And Mama is busy with her own social life. She meets with the seniors once a week at the community center in Bixby, and then with her friends from church to do other activities. She’s busier than I am. Turns out I don’t have a green thumb either. Already killed five plants and I have no idea how. But the bigger reason I want to come back is that I missThe Times. More than I ever thought I would.”
Her words were gratifying and drove the point home that his small-town paper wasn’t important only to him.
“With that said, I have a proposition for you. I’d like to come back to work on a volunteer basis for two days a week.”
He could hardly believe his ears. “Really?”
“Yes, really.” Her smile returned.
A lightness released from his shoulders at knowing Flora was back. She couldn’t make money appear out of thin air, but she was an excellent bookkeeper and willing to do a job he really,reallydidn’t want to do.
“And don’t you dare say no. I know you’re tempted.”
“Don’t worry, I’m not.” He bounced to his feet and went to his desk. “I’ll give you the ledger right now.”
“I can only imagine the state it’s in,” she said, half joking as she got up from his antique chair.
“I haven’t touched it,” he said. Which was true, since he’d only read some of it over before getting demoralized. He never thought he’d appreciate his avoidant side, but in this case, it worked out and he was more than happy to transfer the bookkeeping back to her. He searched his desk and scooted the paperwork around on one side. “Huh,” he said. Then he checked the other side. The ledger wasn’t there either. “I could have sworn I stuffed it in here somewhere.”
Flora laughed. “It’s just as likely you stuffed it someplace else.” She got up from the chair and put her purse over her shoulder. “I’ll come in after Memorial Day. That’ll give you plenty of time to find it.”
He rubbed his neck, frowning. Where was the book? Maybe this was his wakeup call to organize the office and stick with it. “I can’t thank you enough for helping me out again.”
“My pleasure.” She patted his arm and headed for the door. “Don’t feel bad, Seb. We all can’t be good at everything. See you at the hoedown.”
“Give Ms. Florine a kiss for me.”
“Sure will.”
He did another look-through of his desktop, then sat down again, puzzled. Perhaps he took the ledger to his car when he left for the Clementine Inn yesterday. But that didn’t make sense. He did everything he could not to deal with the accounting, and he couldn’t imagine why he would have brought it along to Mabel’s interview.
